dom15931
New member
I had been looking forward to doing the Oceolas for a few weeks. This is my #'s 46 and 47 4k+ mountain in the Northeast (not just NH)
I got a bit of a late start but got to the Greeley Pond Trail parking area around 9:45. The sunny weather was quickly clouding up. It was 20 degrees, according to the ranger that I talked with there. There was less snow than in Crawford notch and the trail was packed so I left my snoeshoes in the trunk. I took my crampons and also my ice axe, just in case as the trail looked steep on the map.
Ten minutes into the hike there was a slightly sketchy stream crossing. It was evident that someone had fallen though because the shattered ice was freezing back up. I was careful to cross on top of the rocks. This stream, though not that big, was enough to turn some groups around because the trail was barely broken on the other side. The rest of the hike to the juntion with the Oceola trail was easy. There were are few 'bent over' conifers here and there but only the slightest nucence.
This changed rapidly as there were numerous downed trees and bent over trees at the base and slightly up East Oceola. There where numerous climb over and climb unders. These were frequent enough to drastically slow this portion of the hike and weeken my esteem towards bagging both peaks today. As the trail steeped the downed trees decreased in frequency. There was enough snow on the trail to cover the rocky path and you had to be careful not to twist and ankle or trip. It was continued slow going. I reached the small slide with the snow crossing and crossed here no problem bare boot. This was right as snow was starting to fall. I got a nice view of the north slide on the Tripryamids from here. I was debating putting crampons on, but figured I would wait as they would have been overkill at this point. I could see from the tracks that someone ahead had recently placed their's on. It took me another 25 minutes or so to reach the East summit. It was snowing harder at this point and the views were totally gone. I traveled on a bit and then stopped for lunch. As I headed down to the col I ran into three hikers going back to over and down they way I came up. They said that there were minimal problems with downed trees from here on out. That was a relief to me.
The 'chimmney' as I belive it is called, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I easily bare booted it. I decided I would use my crampons on the way back though. Oceola's summit was deserted and bleak with the falling snow. The trees really got 'caked' during the last storms which made for some interesting pics. I left the summit a little after 2 oclock. When I got to the chimmney again I decided to take a little detour down a fairly small ice fall that I could see someone else had done. Ah finally some real use for my crampons!
This little section was fun. I saw two other hikers at this point.
On the way down, at the slide, I though of how it would have been interesting to go up the entire portion of the slide with crampons and an ice axe. Would have been foolish to do by myself and with daylight running out, so I just walked over to the base and checked it out. It would be fun to try and is certainly doable and has probably been done many times I would imagine. After this was those awful downed trees again, that once again slowed me way down. I got to the Greeley pond junction at dusk and put on my lamplight for the rest of the walk out. I reached my car a little before five.
I attached a few pics from the trip...enjoy
-Dom
I got a bit of a late start but got to the Greeley Pond Trail parking area around 9:45. The sunny weather was quickly clouding up. It was 20 degrees, according to the ranger that I talked with there. There was less snow than in Crawford notch and the trail was packed so I left my snoeshoes in the trunk. I took my crampons and also my ice axe, just in case as the trail looked steep on the map.
Ten minutes into the hike there was a slightly sketchy stream crossing. It was evident that someone had fallen though because the shattered ice was freezing back up. I was careful to cross on top of the rocks. This stream, though not that big, was enough to turn some groups around because the trail was barely broken on the other side. The rest of the hike to the juntion with the Oceola trail was easy. There were are few 'bent over' conifers here and there but only the slightest nucence.
This changed rapidly as there were numerous downed trees and bent over trees at the base and slightly up East Oceola. There where numerous climb over and climb unders. These were frequent enough to drastically slow this portion of the hike and weeken my esteem towards bagging both peaks today. As the trail steeped the downed trees decreased in frequency. There was enough snow on the trail to cover the rocky path and you had to be careful not to twist and ankle or trip. It was continued slow going. I reached the small slide with the snow crossing and crossed here no problem bare boot. This was right as snow was starting to fall. I got a nice view of the north slide on the Tripryamids from here. I was debating putting crampons on, but figured I would wait as they would have been overkill at this point. I could see from the tracks that someone ahead had recently placed their's on. It took me another 25 minutes or so to reach the East summit. It was snowing harder at this point and the views were totally gone. I traveled on a bit and then stopped for lunch. As I headed down to the col I ran into three hikers going back to over and down they way I came up. They said that there were minimal problems with downed trees from here on out. That was a relief to me.
The 'chimmney' as I belive it is called, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I easily bare booted it. I decided I would use my crampons on the way back though. Oceola's summit was deserted and bleak with the falling snow. The trees really got 'caked' during the last storms which made for some interesting pics. I left the summit a little after 2 oclock. When I got to the chimmney again I decided to take a little detour down a fairly small ice fall that I could see someone else had done. Ah finally some real use for my crampons!
This little section was fun. I saw two other hikers at this point. On the way down, at the slide, I though of how it would have been interesting to go up the entire portion of the slide with crampons and an ice axe. Would have been foolish to do by myself and with daylight running out, so I just walked over to the base and checked it out. It would be fun to try and is certainly doable and has probably been done many times I would imagine. After this was those awful downed trees again, that once again slowed me way down. I got to the Greeley pond junction at dusk and put on my lamplight for the rest of the walk out. I reached my car a little before five.
I attached a few pics from the trip...enjoy
-Dom
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